TM-1-14 356-mm railway gun

Performance characteristics	TM-1-14
Caliber, mm	355.6
Barrel length, calibers	52
The greatest angle of elevation, hail.	+ 50 °
Angle of horizontal guidance, hail.	2.5 °
Declination angle, hail.	-7 °
Weight in the stowed position, kg	412,000
Mass of armor-piercing projectile, kg	512.5
The initial velocity of the projectile, m / s	732
The longest firing range, m	31,000

In the mid-1920s, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet (RKKF) represented only the pitiful shadow of the former fleet of the Russian Empire and could in no way resist the fleets of potential adversaries. The protection of coastal strategic objects with stationary artillery systems was also not possible due to the high cost and too high vulnerability of the latter. Against this background, the decision of the Artillery Committee of the Main Artillery Directorate (AK GAU) of the Red Army to create railway artillery installations armed with long-range guns seemed quite logical.

Formed in accordance with this decision in October 1930, the Central Design Bureau of Shipbuilding Number 3 (TsKBS-3) under the leadership of A.G. Already by March 1931, Dukelsky developed a technical design of a 356-mm railway artillery installation, which received the designation TM-1-14 (marine transporter, type 1, 14-inch caliber). Such a rapid pace of development of such a rather complicated “product” as a railway artillery installation is explained by two circumstances.

First, a significant part of the calculations required for the design of the installation of AG Dukhelsky performed in the late 20s, when he worked on the rights of a prisoner at the OGPU Special Design and Technology Bureau (OKTB). Secondly, the 14-inch American railway artillery M 1920 M 2, created in 1920 for the US Army and Navy, was “creatively” used as a model.

The main components of the TM-1-14 railway artillery installation were the 356-mm cannon and the railway transporter. By the time the TM-1-14 began to be designed, 16 356 mm cannons were stored in the warehouses, originally intended for four Izmail combat cruisers, which were built in St. Petersburg in December 1912. World War I and the Civil War prevented the construction of these ships, and they were finally dismantled for scrap. In this regard, the use of unnecessary cannons to create rail guns provided significant savings in time and money.

The 356-mm gun had a 52-caliber bonded barrel, the shutter was horizontal piston. The length of the rifled part of the barrel was 14,985 mm, 84 rifles of constant steepness were made in the barrel bore. Provided a cap charge, the charges consisted of two half-charges. At the design stage of the TM-1-14, all 16 guns were tested. At the very first firing six guns got the so-called “blowing up”. In addition, in all the tools revealed an insufficient supply of longitudinal strength. Therefore, when designing the TM-1-14, lower ballistic data was adopted than those specified for ship guns. For example, in the "Izmail" towers, when firing a charge of 245.7 kg in mass, an armor-piercing projectile of 1911 type with a mass of 747 kg should have developed an initial speed of 823 m / s, The greatest firing range was impressive - 31000 m, and when firing a high-explosive projectile weighing 512.5 kg, it increased to 51000 meters. At the same time, the barrel survivability was only 150 shots, after which the gun had to be removed from the installation and sent to the factory to replace the inner tube. This operation lasted for several months and in wartime was fraught with a lot of problems.

The railway conveyor was a massive main beam made of sheet steel, which, through so-called balancers, relied on railway carts. Three types of carts were used. Two carts of the first type were four-axial with a motor drive, they were located at the ends of the conveyor. In the front part of the conveyor there was a six-axle carriage of the second type (medium), and in the rear part - a four-axle carriage of the third type (also medium).

The carts had very small dimensions in height (no more than 1250 mm) and length (the distance between the axes was no more than 1500 mm). At the same time, in addition to the calculated static load on the axle, which was 22.5 tons and affected all axles, additional loads reached 8 axes on the axles of the rear carriages.

On railway transporters, guns were mounted on machine tools taken from turrets made for battle cruisers. The main elements of the machine were two hydraulic brakes recoil (compressor) and air-hydraulic knuckle independent type.

When firing at small elevation angles, the inhibition of the rolling mass at the end of the reel was of particular importance. For this purpose, it was equipped with a check valve with an overrun regulator, which was put into operation at the last 250 mm of travel, and at the last 150 mm, the hydraulic buffers of the compressor took part in the braking. As a result, the gun rolled smoothly without strikes at all angles of elevation, and the run-up time was 2 seconds. To increase the rate of fire opening of the lock was possible in the range from -15 ° to -7 ° and not only when the gun is stationary, but also during vertical guidance.

Guidance in the vertical plane was carried out using two lifting sectors mounted on the sides of the machine. In this case, an electric drive with variable speed using Jeni couplings was used.

Due to the large size of the cannon and the considerable recoil length, which was almost 1.5 m, the designers were forced to raise the axle of the gun trunnions to a height of about six meters above the rails. This ensured the shooting at the limiting elevation angle of 50 ° without opening the pit under the conveyor, but at the same time it did not allow to “fit” into the railway envelope. For this reason, in the stowed position, the gun with the machine was lowered by 2 meters.

Since the TM-1-14 railway artillery installation was intended primarily for firing at sea targets moving at a sufficiently high speed, it was necessary to provide a large range of horizontal guidance angles. This requirement could only be used when firing a concrete base, on which the main beam of the conveyor was lowered. At the same time, railway carts rolled out from under the conveyor and he was able to rotate around a vertical axis along a circular shoulder strap of a concrete base.

For each battery of railway installations consisting of three guns, the main and spare firing positions were built. The position housed three concrete bases, platforms for conveyors, shelters for personnel and everything necessary for the operation of conveyors. The first battery was assigned number six, transporters for it were presented for delivery in 1932, and in early 1933 preparations began for the transition of the battery to the Far East. The first of the three battery echelons set off on November 3, 1933, and on December 17, that is, after a month and a half, the trains arrived at the destination station, First River.

By 1935, three more TM-1-14 conveyors were manufactured and put into service. They made up battery number 11, the positions for which were equipped on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. It should be noted here that, along with shooting from a concrete base, conveyors could also shoot from wheels. However, to ensure the guidance of the gun in the horizontal plane, it was necessary to build special rounded railway tracks (mustaches), moving along which the conveyor could change the angle of fire.

To control the shooting, the PUS system (shooting control devices) was developed. The battery post, designed as a collapsible tower, usually housed a six-meter stereoscopic rangefinder and central pickup devices.

The data from the battery post came to the central post, equipped in a special car. Here the sampling and transformation of azimuths and “target-post” distances into azimuth and “battery-target” distances were made and their transfer to the instruments on the receiving instruments. Individual aiming of the guns was also envisaged with the help of a six-fold optical sight.

In addition to the central post wagon — the battery consisted of three wagons — slug cellars (one for each gun), three wagons — charging cellars, three power station cars, and three compressor station cars. There was also the so-called "mobile base" in the form of a composition of 3-4 cellar cars, 4 carriages with fuel and lubricants and masking property, residential carriages and cars equipped for utility rooms. In total, this composition had 20 teplushka and 2 class cars. The state of peacetime in the battery was 331 people, including 16 commanders.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Navy had two three TM-1-14 gun batteries: number 6 in the Far East and number 11 in the Baltic. The 6th battery remained in the Far East throughout the war, keeping the Japanese command from making "wrong" decisions. At the same time, the 11th battery was actively used in the defense system of Leningrad.

In addition to the shelling of railway stations and enemy concentration areas, the battery fought long-range enemy artillery. And the fact that the shelling of Leningrad was gradually reduced, the great merit of this particular battery.

All six railway installations were decommissioned in 1952.